Judges’ Save Finally Used On Timberfake

The bottom three last night on Idol consisted of three contestants who will never win the competition – Anoop Desai, Matt Giraud and Lil Rounds. As blandly likable as each of them are, they can’t win, although the use of the Judges’ Save did extend Matt’s life for at least one more week. Without a doubt, they’ve each just made too many mistakes though and the next two weeks will result in their eliminations. Aside from that bit of predictability, we also got a wee bit more Quentin Tarantino during the show last night in the form of a Grindhouse-ish opening sequence, which made us happy, but he was nowhere to be found during the show. Luckily there were a few noteworthy, non-Tarantino nuggets to talk about.

5. 17 Again

Zac Efron and His Hair jetted back to L.A. from New York after hosting SNL this weekend, just for Idol (well, for that and the premiere of his new film 17 Again). The contestants got to attend the premiere and, even though it’s a complete rehash of the Big/18 Again/Freaky Friday concept, we love Leslie Mann and Thomas Lennon, and Efron proved he has some comedy chops on SNL, so it might not be totally terrible. As much as the segment was a shameless plug for the film, we love how excited real celebs get for Idol contestants.

4. It’s Miley!

Apologies to Kellie Pickler and Flo Rida who we derided for being devoid of stage presence last week. Seems Miley Cyrus could take a lesson from them. Beloved and filthy rich though she may be, we don’t see the appeal. We would love to see a battle of the 16-year-olds, Allison Iraheta vs. Miley, it would be so fun to watch Allison crush Miley like an extension-wearing bug.

3. Oh, the Humanity.

We’re at the point where the contestants and judges have known each other long enough that they feel somewhat comfortable with each other, so it was kind of cute to see some human, informal banter between them all. When Ryan reminded Adam Lambert that Simon called his song a little Rocky Horror Picture Show on Tuesday, and Adam replied “Did he mean it as an insult? I think it’s a great movie!” which was cute. We’re sure Adam would have sung “Sweet Transvestite” if it was on the Idol-approved song list, so yeah, Simon wasn’t doling out any barbs with that one. We hate to hate the guy but we will never forgive him for “Born to Be Wild”. Ever. Later Simon made a point of telling Kris Allen, who he didn’t critique the night before, that Kris’ performance was “brilliant”. We thought that gave the normally blah results show some heart, and we’re glad that Kris’ “obscure” song choice didn’t hurt him this week.
2. J-Hud is Back!

For the first time since she was kicked off the show, Jennifer Hudson made her (pre-recorded at an earlier date) return to the Idol stage. “Hudson comes home!” Seacrest told us. Yeaaah, home to the place where she got booted way early in the season, but whatever. After touting her ginormous success and unprecedented Oscar/Grammy wins, Hudson performed “If This Isn’t Love” off her debut album and then towered about nine feet over Seacrest when he came out to chat her up. The song was boring, but she looked gorgeous while she was up there.
1. The Judges! They Saved!

Our cynicism marred an otherwise sweet moment when the judges decided to use the fabled “Judges’ Save” on fedora-loving Matt Giraud, whose version of “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman” landed him on the bottom. When we saw the judges contemplating using the save on Scott MacIntyre last week, we thought: “Even if they use it, he’s still going home next week,” and last night we had the same thought. We’re just realists, that’s all. Now that the save has been employed, it means that two people will be going home next week, so unless Danny Gokey delves into intolerably bland territory (which he’s been heading toward for a few weeks), we think Matt and Lil are probably the two to get booted next week. And oh, how we hope Simon was kidding when he said next week was disco week. That surely means that the only person who will be comfortable with that material is our arch nemesis, Mr. Lambert. Criminy.